Farm Energy Success Stories

Efficiency Plus Irrigation Program

This program of NorthWestern Energy offered irrigation system audits to NorthWestern Energy customers in Montana, and also funded selected energy-saving projects that irrigation customers proposed. NCAT conducted the audits, measuring flow rates, pressure, and the electrical consumption of a system, calculating the system's pumping plant efficiency, and making recommendations for cost-effective energy saving projects.

Montana Rivers Project

In the American West, wasteful irrigation takes a major environmental toll. For example, over 2,600 miles of river in Montana have been classified as "chronically dewatered," meaning that in most years flows drop below levels that are adequate for fish. The Montana Rivers Project worked cooperatively with ranchers along two chronically dewatered streams, the Jefferson and Boulder Rivers. The project introduced water- and energy-saving technologies such as soil moisture meters to prevent overwatering, save water and energy, reduce power bills, optimize crop yields, and protect fisheries by maintaining and increasing stream flows.

Diverse project funders included the Fanwood Foundation; Ferguson Foundation; General Service Foundation; Trout Unlimited; Greenville Foundation; Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks; Montana Power Company; Montana Trout Foundation; National Fish & Wildlife Foundation; Norcross Wildlife Foundation; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.